For some years now, I have entertained the notion of producing a blog. I have produced an odd entry here or there but thought I should enhance my jottings with eye-catching graphics and banners and all the other beeps and whistles associated with a professional production. Needless to say, nothing has happened. Since I enjoy writing and haven't published, I thought I might put something out on a regular basis. I have shared writings with people at work but thought I could at least expand my readership. So, for now, I will offer up some commentary on whatever concerns me, and perhaps others, at the moment. I will include excerpts from works in progress and a joke or two. If all of my posting comes across as risible, that may or may not be intentional. As time progresses, I will make these text blocks look more attractive.
Attempts at Humor
I have decided that one sure way to make an international crisis disappear, such as the recent earthquakes in Afghanistan, floods in South Asia, civil war in Sudan, or even the Russian invasion of Ukraine, is for Hamas to instigate a major war with Israel.
A furious Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu allegedly held an emergency meeting with his intelligence officers demanding to know how Hamas could have invaded Israel from Gaza under their very noses. After much recrimination and soul-searching, one officer conceded, "We just didn't think Hamas could harm us that much." Another added, "To reference the English poet John Milton, like Samson of old, we were left 'eyeless in Gaza'".
I recently read Yuval Levin's A Time to Build: From Family and Community to Congress and the Campus, How Recommitting to Our Institutions Can Revive the American Dream (Basic Books, 2020), which argues cogently that our declining trust in government, law, journalism, institutional religion, family, education, scientific research, corporations, the medical profession (and, I would add, the stock market) can only lead to weakness and fragmentation. Everything is performative, little based upon group consensus or community objectives anymore. I agree with him 100%. We can't hope to make our society great if we burn it all down. On the other hand, I think many Americans would rather embrace anarchy than run the risk of being institutionalized.
From the work-in-progress Encyclopedia of Diabolical Pontifications:
Absurd: Originally associated with nonsense and the irrational, as well as more serious ruminations about the hapless plight of humanity in the face of unmasterable cosmic forces (see Existentialism), it will be more closely linked to a type of humor, especially enjoyed by sophisticates, collegians, and connoisseurs. In a world saturated with electronic media, where demarcations assigned as entertainment, information, and advertising are in constant flux, even blurry, absurdists, satirists and humorists will be hard-pressed to come up with material any more outlandish than what is found in daily discourse.
Abuse: Applied to those who form dependencies upon certain vices or substances, to their physical or spiritual detriment. More broadly, it is a popular pastime for those who wield some sort of power over others. Adult guardians will abuse their wards, which could include children, the physically or mentally disabled, or the aged. Bullying spouses and partners will torment those they claim to love. Bosses will terrorize subordinates. Landlords will exploit tenants. Mentors will torture pupils. Gurus and clergy will molest trusting disciples. Coaches will mistreat athletes worse than drill instructors will conscripts. Guards and police will extract corrupt favors from vulnerable inmates and compromised outlaws, or plant incriminating evidence against the guiltless. Youth leaders will betray the trust and innocence of their charges. Not content to waste the lives of loyal young men and women, warlords will even compel kidnapped children to commit atrocities. Human traffickers will keep the ancient horrors of slavery alive and well into the next century. Politicians and courts will, while proclaiming the inviolability of children against predation, try and sentence juvenile offenders to serve time among voracious adult inmates. Surviving victims seeking legal redress will be traumatized in police interrogations, pilloried in the courtroom via cross-examination, reprimanded by unsympathetic judges, and excoriated by public outcry in favor of the abuser, if a popular celebrity. Employment will be hard to find if the victim is publicity-shy. Life is suffering, so the Buddhists say. Indeed, society's continuance depends upon someone else's sacrifice.
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